Battle of the Silchar Track, Imphal - April-May 1944

Looking for detailed information on this battle which was part of the defence of Imphal, and in which the 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regt had a key part. Particularly interested in personal accounts.

Thanks

 

Only a small snippet but I am intrested in the mention of Parachute training. Following this Tom was retrained as an infantryman and was sent to the 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment (48th of Foot) at which point in 1943 he sailed from Liverpool bound for India. They received jungle training in Bhopal State and parachute training in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), and then entered the campaign to retake Burma as part of the fourteenth forgotten army,Tom was involved almost immediately in attacking the Japanese in Kyaukchaw before retreating to Imphal.

He then took part in the siege of Imphal on the India/Burma border. This lasted for about three months. Tom then fought with his unit through the Kabaw Valley and crossed the Chindwin River using rough wooden boats towing mules behind them.

The fighting advance continued through Budalin, Monywa and Myinmu to a point just outside Mandalay where he had to swim the Irrawaddy River, fighting all the way.

We will never fully appreciate what Tom and others went through during that time on the Silchar Track and at Imphal as members of The Forgotten Army. It was profoundly significant in his life but rather than focus on the serious side of things Tom would often prefer to tell the funny stories. Let's salute Tom, a true Brum war hero. - Free Online Library

 

I have a first hand account written by a member of 1st Northamptons. Please PM me for details.

 

Hi wtid45

Thanks for the account. I've been researching this in detail for a few years as my father-in-law served in all the bits mentioned in the obituary up to the Silchar track where he was wounded on Pt 5846. It accords with what I have found in Kew etc. They trained in Ceylon and them moved to Ranchi (is this in Bhopal State?) before moving up to Imphal in Nov/Dec 1943. But I've seen no mention of parachute training and unless this was something Tom went on alone I can't account for it.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news!
Skoyen89

 

The Silchar Track by Maj T Molloy

 

Thanks Idler. I have a copy and a really good book on this aspect of the Battle for Imphal.

Skoyen89

 

Here's the units war diary if you can get to the National Archives.

WO 172/4908 1 Northamptonshire Regiment 1944 Jan.- Dec.

I suspect there will be a missing personnel file to for the battalion which will have accounts of how members of the battalion were killed or captured.

 

Here's the units war diary if you can get to the National Archives.

WO 172/4908 1 Northamptonshire Regiment 1944 Jan.- Dec.

I suspect there will be a missing personnel file to for the battalion which will have accounts of how members of the battalion were killed or captured.


Drew is correct, the file is WO361/672.

 

Thanks to bamboo43. I visited kew a couple of weeks ago. This has records of the review of a small group of missing men from the Battle on Dome, near the Silchar track on 10th June 1944.
I have a fair amount on the Northamptons from Kew, Abington etc if there are others out there interested in the Battalion in Burma, plus bits on other units in 32nd Indian Infantry Brigade.
Again thanks

 

I am currently researching all those men named on my local Village War Memorial (Flamstead in Hertfordshire) ...

Flamstead Parish Council - Document 2

Amongst the six Second World War casualties is Private Albert George Bandy of the 1st Bn Northamptonshire Regiment. Thanks to help I have received from a contact on the Burma Star Website I believe that this unit were attacking the "Dome" and "Middle Ridge" just off the Silchar Track on the 14th June 1944 (the day that Private Bandy died)

I am looking for any information on what the unit were doing that day, their losses etc. etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and would allow us to better record the sacrifice of this man and, with him, his unit.

 

I believe that this unit were attacking the "Dome" and "Middle Ridge" just off the Silchar Track on the 14th June 1944 (the day that Private Bandy died)

Yes, 1st Northamptons indeed take part in attack on "Dome" on the night 13/14th June. According to Grant's "Burma - Turning Point", battalion suffered 19 killed in the attack.

 

sol,

Many thanks for that confirmation and for the casualty information.

It all adds to our knowledge.

 

Pte Bandy is listed in the Roll of Honour of 1st Bn Northants Regt as KIA in the Bishenpur Area rather than Died of Wounds and so if he died on 14th June 1944 that would have been in the attack on Dome, which is south of the Silchar Track. I have accounts of the battle because I bought some medals of a soldier killed that day on Dome so PM me your email address if you want copies. The war Diary has 1 Officer killed and 4 Wounded in Action and 26 Other Ranks Killed or Died of Wounds, 30 wounded and 4 Missing (these are probably the 4 who are the subject of the papers in WO373). However none of the accounts for that day list names of ORs.
All the best
Skoyen89
PS Do you have a photo of Bandy?

 

Hi Skoyen89,

This is a copy of an article printed in the Luton News & Bedfordshire Advertiser on the 20th July 1944.

I will PM you seperately.

 

Not sure if this will help Skoyen89, but my father served with Tom Reynolds in 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment (48th of Foot) in India & Burma and was very well known to me too as I am an Honorary Friend Member of the Birmingham Branch of Burma Star Association. The parachute training was carried out in the uk as originally he was told he would be going elswhere. The Army being what they were, they changed their minds afterwards and sent him to Budbrooke Barracks in Warwickshire for Infantry training where he and my father met. They then were shipped up to Liverpool for embarkation and shipping to India & thence into Burma. There first real experience of that country was at a place called Kyaukchaw where they were to cover the retreating troops before themselves retreating in a rearguard action to Imphal and back to Silchar.

From your description of events, I think it is likely that Pte Bandy was killed in what became known as "The Dixie of Tea" incident. My father wrote:

"How can I forget that dixie of tea? L/Cpl Marsh had brewed a dixie of tea as 4 Coy were working their way back to Battalion HQ and was not about to waste such a valuable commodity. As he walked up the track several men begged a cup of tea from him. As I passed L/Cpl Marsh, I too collected a cup of tea and had walked some 30 to 40 yards further when there was the distant thud of one artillery gun, followed some moments later by a second thud (probably the time it took to reload). Silence! Then a whisper changing to a fluttering; a rush, a roar and the crash of the first explosion.
By this time I am flat on the ground, my reaction was, I think, instinctive having heard similar sounds during an air raid back in Birmingham. As my head began to clear the second shell was roaring in, in the moments before it too exploded, in my mind I heard the voices of my parents and my sister.
It took longer for my head to clear after the second shell, and when I raised it I saw the man next to me was killed outright, his head totally mis-shapen by fragments. Looking down the track L/Cpl Marsh lay on his back appearing to be taking in calmly the fact that his raised right leg was reduced to a stump at or just above the knee. Turning my head to look up and across the tracklay a man with his back towards mehalf supported by his webbing equipment. His left arm moves and with a heave of his shoulder endeavours to turn on to his front, a second attempt follows and fails. His head turns, presumably looking for a place to put his hand and push. A look of shock crosses his face, then a distorted cry of horror, there is no hand, only a stump from his shoulder, hand and forearm gone!
Hurt, I dragged myself to the slope of the track side for a better firing position in case any attack was to follow, conciously thinking that if there was I stood little chance and if I was going, someone was going with me."

My father survived, but never forgot this incident. It haunted him until about a year before his death when he finally told me about it and drew a sketch of what he could see. I still have that sketch, there is no scenery, no trees or jungle, just dead and mutilated men!

He and Tom met up again many years later when he joined the Birmingham Branch of Burma Star Association, they were best mates, they died within weeks of each other. No doubt they are still remembering those stories that old soldiers are all sure to know - wherever they may be now.

I still miss them both!

 

That account is as graphic and horrific as they come. No small wonder that your dad was haunted by this. Thanks for sharing.
Lionboxer

 

Roger,

Thanks for posting your dad's recollection.

Pete.

 

Hi Roger,

Many thanks for sharing that account with us - it really brings home to those of us who aren't "old soldiers" what they must have gone through.

 

Roger, a harrowing account but one that need to be told, so none of us forget what so many went through.Thanks for the information on the parachute training.

 

Hi Roger

That account is really interesting and so graphic...my father in law mentioned L/Cpl Marsh and he figured in some of the Regimental Histories. I'd be really interested in other accounts that may have been shared with you or any further detail you have. Equally happy to share what I have.

Dome that day was a real challenge and it seems that when the attack went in a number of men were caught on the wire surrounding the hill. This was the cause of the large casualty count that day.